Club Training Monday 1st April

No joke, Monday is an easy, recovery run following on from the excellent performances at the Tom Scott 10 Mile on Sunday. To be effective, recovery runs should be at the lower end of your aerobic range which means very conversational pace with no stress on the breathing. On the day after a race, the pace at which there will be no stress on your breathing will be slower than usual. For those wearing a heart rate monitor chest strap, this is the best way to confirm that you are running at a very easy effort as the heart does not lie.

The route is our first tentative venture into the country. Run out Strathaven Road, round by Sainsburys, up to Langlands Club House. From there, run towards Auldhouse. At Auldhouse cross, turn right and head back towards the new houses and the fingerposts. Turn left on Greenhills Rd, up to Greenhills Roundabout, down Lickprivick and back to the club via The Murray, Crooked Lum and NEL roundabout.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 28th March

Thursday's run is a pre-race run with strides. The route is Strathaven Rd to Greenhills Rd. Along Greenhills Rd to Greenhills Roundabout. Down Lickprivick and bear right onto Westwoodhill heading towards the Murray Road. Murray Rd back to the club via Crooked Lum and NEL roundabout.

On flat or slightly downhill sections fit in 6 x approx 100m strides, increasing the pace to 10 mile race pace. Decide within your packs where each stride section starts and finishes.

Alan

Club Training Monday 25th March

Monday's session is a repeat of the recent 10k-specific session at Carron Place. The session is the 8 x 1 lap of Carron Place at 10k pace (averaged over the full lap which means slower on the uphill, faster on the downhill) with a 90-second standstill recovery between reps. This is a challenging session which requires strict control of the effort to remain consistent throughout. Each lap is approximately 1km, therefore 10k pace judgement is straightforward; a 35 minute 10k pace will take 3:30 per lap, a 40 minute 10k will take 4:00 per lap, a 50 minute 10k will take 5:00 per lap and a 60 minute 10k will take 6:00 per lap.

Thursday's session will be an easy run ahead of the Tom Scott.

Alan

West Highland Way Relay 2024

Its now that time of year to plan our West Highland way weekend. We have booked the Ben Nevis hotel for Saturday the 18th May 2024. For those new to the club we hire a 17 seater minibus and leave East Kilbride about 3:30am on the Saturday morning and drive to Milngavie where Alan will allocate a section of the Way to be run by each person although you can, if you wish, run with others on their legs. Arriving in Fort William early evening for a swim if there is time and dinner with some refreshments. Depending on the weather we may do an activity on the Sunday before arriving back in East Kilbride around 6pm. As places are limited it will be a first come first served basis upon giving Frances a deposit of £30 (from Thursday 28th March onwards at the Sports Club). Total cost for the weekend will be £100 and this includes your place on the bus and dinner, B&B in the Ben Nevis Hotel. As we have to pay the hotel in full two weeks in advance, we need the final payment of the balance to Frances by 2nd May. Places will go fast so don't delay. 

Frances 

Club Training Thursday 21st March

Sorry for the delay in posting; lost track of the days.

Thursday's session is on the Sainsbury's loop in a clockwise direction, starting on the pavement after the entrance into Sainsbury's warehouse. This session is speed endurance, specific to 10k racing.

3 x 4km with 2 minute jog recovery. The total distance is greater than race distance and consequently, the pace for each rep must be slightly slower than race pace. The target is to do each rep at 15 to 20 seconds/km slower than race pace. So for a 40 minute 10k, race pace is 4 min/km and rep pace is 4:15 to 4:20/km. Similarly for a 50 minute 10k, aim for 5:15 to 5:20/km rep pace, for 60 minute 10k, aim for 6:15 to 6:20/km. For intermediate or faster 10k race pace, work out the relevant rep pace in advance of the session. During the 2 min jog recovery, keep moving but regroup into your pack. Faster than target pace is not doing you any good. Be disciplined and stick to your target pace.

Alan

Jack Crawford Springburn Cup 10k Race

On Sunday 10th March we had 4 harriers racing at the Jack Crawford Springburn Cup 10k race – Alison Lessells, Kevin McPhilips and his daughters Rachel and Lauren.

I had entered this race about half an hour before entries closed on the Thursday as had decided if I wanted to run a decent 10k time this year it would be good to get a race in early on and give a marker to beat for the rest of the season.

The race started at 9am, in the housing estate across the road from the Leisuredrome in Bishopbriggs where the course goes through the residential area for about a mile or so with a few short sharp hills thrown in before it drops down to the canal and goes out to a turning point round some cones just past the 5k mark and then comes back along the canal finishing just before the bridge near the sport centre.

It was pretty windy on Sunday morning so the good thing about going through the housing estate first was that you were more sheltered from the wind than you were on the canal as it was a headwind for the first 5k and then we had the wind behind us for the way back.

I was aiming to try and run 4:30kms for as long as I could to get close to the 45 minute mark. There were a few kms in the first half above this pace due to the headwind but I realised when I got to about 7k that I was on target to get close to 45 minutes as long as I could keep under 4:30 pace. I got to the finish and was delighted to beat my target time of 45:00 with 44:46. Kevin McPhilips also had a strong race finishing in 45:49 and was also happy with his time but thought he could have went out a bit faster at the start to get closer to 45 minutes. Rachel was next harrier in and had been targeting breaking 50 minutes so was delighted with her new PB of 49:31. Rachel was also first U20 so well done Rachel, Lauren has recently joined the Tuesday night beginners group and she was also delighted with her PB of 65:09, despite suffering from a stitch from about 2k onwards.

Afterwards there was lots of home baking back at the sport centre in exchange for a donation to the Beatson cancer charity. This was a well organised race with chip timing, pretty much a flat course and it was also good value for money – think it was £10 to enter so I would definitely recommend to others.

Alison

Club Training Monday 18th March

Monday's session consolidates the 10k specific session done a week and a half ago at Langlands Place. For those who were racing the half marathon or further at the weekend, just run this as a recovery session, jogging gently back and forward whilst the others are doing the reps.

16 x 400m at slightly faster than 10k pace with 1 minute stand/recovery. The target pace is 10 seconds per km faster than (realistic) target 10k race pace. So for a 40 min 10k (4min/km), aim for 3:50/km pace during the reps, for 50 min 10k, aim for 4:50/km for 60 min 10k, aim for 5:50/km. The 400m splits should be 1:32/rep (40 min 10k); 1:56/rep (50 min 10k); 2:20/rep (60 min 10k). Work out your target rep time before turning up at the session.

Warm-up/Cool-down via the usual route to Langlands Place.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 14th March

Thursday's session is a 10k race-pace specific session. The session is 8 x 1 lap of Carron Place at 10k race pace with a 90 second recovery (standstill/jog). Note that a lap of Carron Place is very close to 1km. Given the ups and downs of the loop, the pace is going to vary throughout the lap. On the uphills the pace will be slower than target pace and on the downhills slightly faster. This should average out over the lap to give the correct average pace per lap. The target times are simple to calculate: for a 35 minute 10k, aim for a lap in about 3:30, for a 40 minute 10k, a lap is about 4:00, for a 50 minute 10k, a lap is about 5:00 minutes and for a 60 minute 10k, the lap is about 6:00 minutes.

Take an easy run to the start via the Murray roundabout and Kelvin Rd. Cool down back to the club via Greenhills Rd and Strathaven Rd.

Alan

Club Training Monday 11th March

Given that a few were racing on Sunday, Monday's session is a medium length easy run. It won't be long before these runs are out in the country but for now we are still in the streets of EK. The route is the 4 Hills, starting off with the Kingsway, Village and Market Hill, East Mains, West Mains, etc. Do make this an easy run and do not push the pace. The slower the pace (within reason), the more aerobic benefit you will get from this run as the run will take longer. The heart and lungs do not know how far you have run, all they know is how long time you have run and it is the time spent training that develops the aerobic system.

For Thursday we are back onto 10k race specific reps.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 7th March

As we head from the winter season into a Spring/Summer period of 10k and half marathon road races, the emphasis of the training is shifting to 10k specific training (half marathon training is not much different, just a slightly longer long training run and holding back a little on the pace during the race).

Thursday's session is at Langlands Place and is as follows:

16 x 400m at slightly faster than 10k pace with 1 minute stand/recovery. The target pace is 10 seconds per km faster than (realistic) target 10k race pace. So for a 40 min 10k (4min/km), aim for 3:50/km pace during the reps, for 50 min 10k, aim for 4:50/km for 60 min 10k, aim for 5:50/km. The 400m splits should be 1:32/rep (40 min 10k); 1:56/rep (50 min 10k); 2:20/rep (60 min 10k). Work out your target rep time before turning up at the session.

Warm-up/Cool-down via the usual route to Langlands Place.

Alan

Club Training Monday 4th March

Monday's session is a longer, threshold effort with an easy start and easy finish. The important thing about this longer effort is that the pace is held back. This needs to be the effort you could maintain for an hour in a race, so it is absolutely not the fastest you could run this single, 30 minute effort. When the effort is over, it should therefore not be necessary to stop, but just slow down to the easy, recovery pace for the remainder of the run. Furthermore, the pace will vary depending on whether going uphill, downhill, into the wind or with a tail wind but the effort should remain consistent (i.e. the breathing and heart rates).

The route is a gentle warm up to the Crooked Lum roundabout, then when you are through the roundabout and onto the Queensway at the town centre, start the 1 x 30 minute effort. The route from there is down the Queensway, West Mains, East Mains, Kingsway, back to the club. Be extremely careful at all road crossings. Where ever you finish the 30 minutes, slow down to a very easy jog back to the club, regrouping into your pack as you do so.

Thursday's session is faster reps in preparation for forthcoming 10k (and further) races. So, don't burst yourself on this session by running it too fast.

Alan

TEAMS FOR ALLAN SCALLY

 The teams for Saturdays race are as follows

Senior Men    Leg 1 J Stewart,   2 K Wheeler,   3 D Searil,   4 R Gibson

M40      Leg 1 A Buchanan,  2 J Grant,   3 G McInally,   4 G Ferguson

M50      Leg 1 S Phimister,   2 J Mearns,   3 G Connelly,   4 A McLellan

M50     Leg 1  R Couper

Ladies    Leg 1 F Ferguson,   2 L Buchanan

Race starts at noon and i will be down at the start by 11.20 with the numbers. Please arrive in plenty of time to allow good warm ups and to support others.

Russell